Snowden promises more US intelligence leaks

 

Fugitive US intelligence leaker Edward Snowden has said he would like to leak more secrets after disseminating documents on a complex network of snooping on phone and internet communications across the globe.

"If I have time to go through this information, I would like to make it available to journalists in each country to make their own assessment, independent of my bias, as to whether or not the knowledge of US network operations against their people should be published," Snowden, whose current whereabouts are not known, said.

Snowden has also claimed to have information of hacking by the NSA into computers in Hong Kong and China.

"I did not release them earlier because I don't want to simply dump huge amounts of documents without regard to their content," he said.

He said that he took a job with consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton solely to get access to the National Security Agency's trove of confidential information.

"My position with Booz Allen Hamilton granted me access to lists of machines all over the world the NSA hacked," Snowden told Hong Kong's South China Morning Post in a June 12 interview published yesterday.

"That is why I accepted that position about three months ago," the 30-year-old former technical contractor and Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) employee who worked for Booz Allen Hamilton, a contractor for the US National Security Agency (NSA), said.

Asked again if he went to Booz Allen specifically to gather evidence of surveillance, Snowden readily owned up to his premeditated plan: "Correct on Booz."

Booz Allen Hamilton fired Snowden on June 10, a day after he leaked details of a secret US surveillance programme.

Snowden worked as a Hawaii-based computer network administrator for Booz Allen Hamilton before he fled to Hong Kong last month with laptops full of confidential information.

He told UK's Guardian newspaper that he exposed the US surveillance programmes because they pose a threat to democracy.

He claimed his intention was to collect information about the NSA hacking into "the whole world".

The documents revealed the existence of programmes that collect records of domestic telephone calls in the US and monitor the Internet activity of overseas residents.

The disclosures shook the US intelligence community and raised questions about whether the NSA is eroding American civil liberties.

Snowden is charged with theft of government property, unauthorised communication of national defence information and wilful communication of classified communications intelligence.

Snowden has applied for asylum in Ecuador. The US has revoked his passport. The exact whereabouts of Snowden, who flew to Moscow from Hong Kong on Sunday, are unclear.